e-Learning Best Practices

Intel® Education Solutions: Ethnographic Research

Intel continues to collaborate with experts in education and eLearning fields to determine the most effective way to teach using technology. The Intel Education Solutions team is charged with bringing together the technological know-how and thought capital necessary to enable a 21st century learning environment based on a full featured, open architecture and software applications.

An integal piece of that puzzle is ethnographic and field research. School visits started in 2006 in both emerging and mature markets. Since the project’s inception, researchers have visited 2000+ classrooms in 36 countries.

Trained researchers met with teachers and principals as well as pedagogic and IT coordinators to observe how computers are used in classrooms and home settings. The research focused on understanding the value of integrating technology into education and the obstacles end-users encountered in the teaching and learning process. Intel® Education Solutions has been rooted in this foundation of research ever since.

Current and future users also benefit from key learnings gained from previous deployments. As Intel Education Solutions become more common in classrooms, the pool of knowledge about the program increases, allowing Intel to refine the product reference designs for future implementations. Collaboration with academics and educational consultants have also been integral, particularly in Brazil, Mexico, the US, Sweden, Chile, and PRC.